Barriers to Achievement in MPS

The teachers union says MPS’ budget crisis is pitting teacher jobs against the benefits they receive. Mike Langyel is the President of the MTEA, the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association. He spoke with Mitch Teich for our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series. The board action for the proposed $1.3 billion dollar MPS budget is scheduled for tomorrow evening.

UWM professors Festus Obiakor and René Antrop-González say that widespread institutional racism in MPS is holding students of color back. Festus Obiakor is a professor in the Department of Exceptional Education at UWM. He is a nationally and internationally known scholar and consultant. His research interests include at-risk learners, African American learners/urban learners, and behavior management. René Antrop-González is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He teaches bilingual education courses, and his research interests include studying minority high achievers and urban school reform. They spoke with Stephanie Lecci for our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.

Professor Heidi Schweizer discusses whether technology can be the answer to the achievement gap. Schweizer is an associate professor of education at Marquette University and Director of the Center for Electronic Learning there. She spoke with Mitch Teich about how she believes technology and virtual learning can play a key role in the future of urban education. Their conversation is part of our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.

School administration can have a real effect on how successfully teachers do their jobs, according to Dr. Ellen Eckman. Eckman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Leadership at Marquette University. Her research interests include the role of the principal, leadership in educational organizations, and women in the high school principalship. She spoke with Bonnie North as part of our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.

Project Milwaukee is underway this week on WUWM. We’re examining the barriers that block some students in Milwaukee Public Schools from achieving at a higher level. Today, we report on the growing number of MPS children facing learning, behavioral and physical challenges. As Erin Toner reports, the district has been fighting a lawsuit that claims MPS has failed such students, while the district insists it is making progress.

This week on WUWM we're reporting on barriers to achievement in the Milwaukee Public Schools system. Thousands of students have been performing poorly on tests, and hundreds of teens drop out every year. As we’ve been highlighting in our series, children can have trouble learning for a number of reasons. One is that they may be surrounded by disruptive students. Troublemakers can cause distractions, at best. But in this installment of Project Milwaukee, Ann-Elise Henzl reports on one program helping restore order in classrooms.

We’ve presented several stories this morning as part of our Project Milwaukee series, about students in the Milwaukee Public Schools system who have difficulties in class. They can range from physical disabilities to behavioral problems. We were able to meet for a few minutes this week with the busy principal of South Division High School, to talk about students who are not proficient in English, at least not right away. Maurice Turner says as many as 45 percent of the students in his school are not primarily English speakers.

As we examine how teachers are taught, a program at UWM seeks to make becoming a teacher like becoming a doctor. Marleen Pugach is a Professor and Linda Post is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at UW-Milwaukee, and both are co-principal investigators for the Teachers for a New Era program, a grant funded by the Carnegie Corporation to improve the quality of teacher education. They spoke with Mitch Teich as part of our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.

The Dean of Marquette University's College of Education, Bill Henk, believes the traditional schools have something to learn from the alternative certification model. Henk is also a professor of literacy there. He spoke with Mitch Teich as part of our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.

Milwaukee writer Barbara Miner questions whether Teach For America does more harm than good in urban schools. Miner is a freelance writer in Milwaukee. Her article, “Looking Past the Spin” on Teach for America, appears in the spring issue of the education journal Rethinking Schools. She spoke with Mitch Teich as part of our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.

Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp argues the program takes bright college grads and puts them in classrooms where teachers are needed the most. Kopp is the CEO of Teach For America, which she first proposed as part of her undergraduate senior thesis at Princeton University in 1989. She is also the chief executive of Teach For All, which develops programs similar to TFA in other countries. She is the author of One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way. She spoke with Stephanie Lecci as part of our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.

There’s been no shortage of stories about dismal test scores in the Milwaukee Public Schools system. We’ve heard less about how it performs in helping students and families address personal and social problems. No other district in the state uses as many resources as MPS to address the non-academic needs of its students. Those needs are the subject of today’s installment of our series, Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS.

Educational historian Diane Ravitch does a 180 on her attitude towards the promise of school choice and vouchers. Ravitch is a professor of education at New York University – her new book is called The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. She spoke with WUWM’s Marge Pitrof as part of our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.

Researcher John Witte says the evidence of success or failure is more nuanced that Ravitch would lead you to believe. Witte is a professor of public affairs and political science at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

He currently is studying the long-term effects of the Milwaukee school voucher program with the School Choice Demonstration Project, housed at the University of Arkansas' Department of Education Reform. He is the author of several books, including his most recent, The Market Approach to Education on educational vouchers. He also led the US Department of Education-funded Wisconsin Charter Schools Study. He spoke with Stephanie Lecci for our "Project Milwaukee: Barriers to Achievement in MPS" series.